1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display (LCD) device, and more particularly, to an array panel of the LCD device with a repair structure.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, a liquid crystal display (LCD) device displays an image using a plurality of pixels. The LCD device having a thin film transistor (TFT) as a switching element is typically called a thin film transistor liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD) device.
The TFT as the switching element has a gate electrode, a source electrode and a drain electrode. The gate and source electrodes of the TFT are connected to gate and data lines, respectively. Through the gate line, a pulse voltage is applied to operate the gate electrode, and through the data line, a signal voltage is transmitted to operate the source electrode.
The LCD device has a plurality of pixels, each of which is operated by a corresponding switching element that is driven by the gate and data lines.
The plurality of pixels and the TFTs are formed in a microstructure, and it is very important to form the gate and data lines and other components of the TFTs uniformly. In a display device, therefore, even a small particle may cause a point defect such as a pixel defect and a line defect such as an open gate and/or data lines.
Such defects have become serious problems with the increase in the display area of the image device. To solve the problems, a redundant design or repair structure has been introduced. The redundant design or repair structure is more needed for repairing a line defect than a point defect, since a point defect can be repaired without severely damaging the product. However, even one line defect may deteriorate the value of the product. Thus, a redundant design for the line defect has been developed.
FIG. 1 shows a conventional repair structure for a line defect of a TFT-LCD device. An active display region 17 with a plurality of pixels is located on a substrate of a liquid crystal display (LCD) device. A plurality of gate lines 11 are arranged in a transverse direction and a plurality of data lines 13 are arranged in a longitudinal direction. A repair line 15 is located outside the active display region 17 in order to repair an open data line. When one of the data lines 13 is opened, the repair line 15 is connected to the open line at two cross points SP1 and SP2. Then, the data signal flows toward a source electrode along a path in the repair line 15.
FIG. 2 shows a modified conventional repair structure of FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 shows another conventional repair structure. In FIGS. 2 and 3, the same method as in FIG. 1 is used to repair the line defect.
However, the conventional repair structures have the following disadvantages. Since the repair line 15 is formed outside the active display region 17 in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, the length of the path of the repair line 15 along which the gate or data signals must flow is long. Thus, a resistance of the repair line 15 increases causing signal loss and signal delay. In addition, crosstalk at the affected area of the LCD device resulting from a parasitic capacitance generated at a crossing portion of the repair line and the gate or data line is large.